Biologie et exploitation de l'araignée de mer Maja squinado Herbst en Manche Ouest

The aim of this work, which was done as a Doctorate of Philosophy (Phd), was to collect the information necessary to help improve the management of the western Channel spider crab stock. The fîrst section présents the main aspects of spider crab population biology. As well as contributing our own results on spider crab habitat, stock density, démographie structure, growth and mortality estimâtes, migrations, reproduction and recruitment, a synthesis is included of the existing scientific literature. The second section on exploitation covers various features of the fishery : its history, fishing methods, fleet structure, spatial and seasonal distribution of fishing efforts in 1986, trends in the landings, fishing effort and catch per unit effort, composition of the catch, and économie aspects of the fishery. Finally, considération is given to the most appropriate way of managing the spider crab stocks in the western Channel.